Stephan Mathieu – A home for Schwebung

Experimental music is blessed with a number of very fine mastering engineers, who are responsible for turning an artist’s or mixing engineer’s rough draft into a recording that sounds glorious when played back through anything from cheap earbuds to a luxury hifi system. For a few years now, Stephan Mathieu — an excellent composer in his own right — has been one of those top options when it comes to choosing a mastering engineer through his project Schwebung (named after the German word for the beating of two waveforms that are slightly out of phase).

I was surprised to learn that Mathieu currently practices his mastering craft as a guest in other people’s studios, but now an opportunity has arisen for him to develop a studio of his own. A state-funded low-interest founding loan is on the table to fund this, but Mathieu needs 10% equity in order to make it happen. This is where we all step in.

If you’re a listener who values beautiful sound, and/or an artist who wants their work to sound as fantastic as possible, then there are few better things you can do than to contribute to the Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign Mathieu has launched to raise the equity necessary to secure the loan and build his studio. You can nab yourself some exclusive CDs or a heavily discounted mastering session in the process. Or you can just see it as an investment in a future of quality sound — which is what it is.

I’m familiar with Mathieu’s commitment to great sound from his own music, his mastering work, and from his many social media comments and insights over the years, and I have no doubt that this will turn out to be something very special.